Economy of North Korea

North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament has voted to abolish laws on economic cooperation with the South, state media said Thursday, as relations between the two neighbours hit new lows.

China and Russia have vetoed a US attempt to impose new UN sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, publicly splitting the organization's Security Council for the first time since the body began imposing sanctions on Pyongyang in 2006, Reuters reported.

China exported no oil products to North Korea in November, Chinese customs data showed, apparently going above and beyond sanctions imposed earlier this year by the United Nations in a bid to limit petroleum shipments to the isolated country.

The United States has given China a draft resolution for tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea and is hoping for a quick vote on it by the U.N. Security Council, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday, Reuters reports. 

The Japanese government approved a new package of unilateral sanctions against North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program. According to the Kyodo Agency, this decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

 North Korea on Tuesday rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing tougher sanctions and said the United States would soon face the "greatest pain" it had ever experienced, Reuters reported.

North Korea threatened the United States to cause them the "greatest suffering and pain" if they continue to push the UN to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang after their sixth nuclear test. Reports Mediapool. 

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution significantly strengthening the sanctions against North Korea in response to Pyongyang's new missile trials. Reports Mediapool.

The UN Security Council will vote on a draft resolution on aggravating sanctions against North Korea on Saturday at 22.00 (Bulgarian time). This was reported by TASS as one of the Western diplomats representing a member of the SS.

Two tourist agencies that operate tours to North Korea said on Friday the U.S. government will soon ban its citizens from travelling to the North, according to Daily Mail.

Koryo Tours said the ban would be announced on July 27 and would go into effect 30 days later.